Together Again!

Kathryn and Walker haven't seen cousins Mimi and Devon since our vacation at the beach this summer. Kathryn was having serious girl cousin withdrawals, especially since Walker gets quality time with cousin Daniel several times a week now that we are in Birmingham.

Well, FINALLY, this past Monday, the girls were reunited, and they loved every minute of it!

First it was down to business--a cousin Christmas picture.

Kathryn and Mimi...

And then we REALLY got down to business...Princess movie watching! These three were in heaven!

We can't wait to join the girls again at Casa del Rio (Papa and Nana's) this weekend! I have a feeling there will be more princess-playing on the agenda!

Christmas Memories

I hope all of you had a fabulous Christmas. We did! Of course, I don't have any pictures to prove it. You guessed it! I left my camera in Birmingham while we celebrated Christmas in Mobile. Not that big of a problem considering Pops let us use his camera for all of our picture-taking needs, but then I forgot to transfer the pictures to our laptop before we left!

All that to say, you won't be seeing any Christmas pictures here for a while. Even more fun to me than pictures, however, is capturing our Christmas memories in this little book...

I ordered this book for the twins' first Christmas, and it is so much fun to look over the past four years and relive those memories. The book allows you to keepsake such things as how you decorated inside and out, family traditions, favorite parties and festivities, presents under the tree, Christmas dinner, ringing in the New Year, and my favorites: Christmas bloopers and practical jokes and "The Biggest Cookie Monster."

You won't be disappointed with this fun book! Each book captures five years' worth of memories, which means I'll be ordering a new one after next year. Maybe you should order one too!

Shop Til You Drop

Yesterday, Mom, Makenzi, the kiddos and I ventured to Fairhope for a little shopping. Little being the key word. The only thing I bought were two of these Rudolph books we found in an antique store. Two of Kathryn and Walker's favorite Christmas songs this season have been Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, so the books just had to be bought!

I have to admit I love this kind of shopping. Finding a small treasure in the very back of a shop for pennies. I don't know who was more thrilled me or the little ones!

Christmas Program 2009

Walker and Kathryn did much better during their Christmas play. No freezing once they saw Mommy with the camera like they did during the Thanksgiving program, probably because I strategically located myself so they couldn't see me! They were really getting into this song, so I couldn't help but film a bit of it! Enjoy!

Here Comes Santa Claus

This past weekend, the kids and I drove to Mobile for the Tew Family Christmas. On the way down, we decided to stop at Bass Pro Shop in Prattville for a little last minute Christmas shopping. While we were there, we checked out the "Santa line." Thankfully, it was very short (we'd visited our local Bass Pro the Sunday before and the line was literally wrapped all the way around the store...and it's a huge store!).

We weren't in our Christmas attire and all "dolled" up like some of the other little ones getting their picture made, but I was just happy to check it off our list! Walker was excited to see Santa and tell him that he wants a "marble thing" for Christmas (aka the Quadrilla Marble Railway).

Kathryn wasn't as excited to see Santa, hence the separate pictures. She finally obliged after the photographer let her hold Rudolph. She still woulnd't get near Santa's lap! Also, notice the plastic duck she picked up somewhere in the store. When I told her that we weren't getting the duck, she threw a very large fit right there in the middle of the store. Gotta love three year olds!





Before visiting Santa (and before the massive tantrum), the kiddos also checked out the ATV's. This was their favorite! It was like a golf cart on huntin' steriods!

Santa's Helpers

I've been taking a sewing class for almost 2 months now, and here's the first product of all of my labor! Don't look too close. It's certainly not perfect, but if you scroll down, you'll see it makes a great outfit for fruit decorating:)
Here are Santa's helpers working hard at making Christmas citrus.

And here's how we displayed all of the yummy smelling fruit!

Cooking in the Kitchen with Kathryn

I've heard of Christmas in July, but I've never quite heard of July in Christmas. Yes, that's my daughter helping me do a little holiday baking in her swimsuit!

Gotta love ALL of that flour too! Want to know what we were baking? Toffee Crackle Cookies! The recipe came from the Publix Family Style Magazine. You can get your free subscription here.

And here's the recipe:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

1 egg

1 t vanilla

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup chocolate covered toffee pieces

granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large bowl beat sugar w/ an electric mixer on med. to high speed for 30 sec. Add brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Beat until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much flour as you can with mixer. Using a wooden spood, stir in any remaining flour. Stir in toffee pieces.

Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Roll balls in granulated sugar. Place balls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake about 20 minutes or until tops are cracked and sides are set (do not let edges brown.) Transfer cookies to a wire rack; cool.

Forgot to take a picture of the final product, but I can guarantee you they were yummy! You'll just have to try them for yourself!

Neighborhood Favorite

We went for a walk around the neighborhood the other night and discovered this winter wonderland! It wasn't exactly "right around the corner," but after seeing the kid's reaction to all of the lights and decorations, it was worth the walk!

Walker's favorite was the dalmation driving the firetruck!!

Out Takes

We spent a wonderful Thanksgiving in Camden. Lots of good quality cousin time and lots of food, fun and fellowship. We also took advantage of Nana's great camera skills to hopefully capture our Christmas card pictures.

Here are a few of the out takes. In case you didn't know, it's not easy to get two three year olds to cooperate with picture taking. So, we would take a few pictures and then let them play a bit.

After a few rounds of photos that delivered a few card possibilities, Nana and I decided to attempt one more round in the pursuit of the perfect picture. This was the progression of that photo session.

Needless to say, it was time to call it quits. Nana and I had exhausted all of our "bribes." Fortunately, we were able to get a picture out of all the chaos. Cards should go in the mail this week. So be on the look out for the final product!!

O Christmas Tree

Today, we did what Matt and I haven't done since we were married. We bought a REAL Christmas tree! Since we are in a rental house this year, our artificial tree is nicely packed away in Mobile. Instead of dragging it up here for the season, we decided to buy a real tree.

So, now the house smells like pine, and I'm in love. I don't know if I'll be able to go back! Well, that is until all the needles start falling off and the cat chews on the bottom branches:) Maybe fake trees aren't so bad after all:)

The kids were in love too! They kept wanting to reinact a scene from their Mickey Christmas movie where two little kids exclaim, while picking out a the family tree, "It's bigger than our house!"

I can guarantee you this tree isn't bigger than our house, but it is almost 8 feet tall. And we had so much fun decorating it! Matt took the little ones out for some errands and came back home with some peppermint mochas from Starbucks. Perfect fuel for tree decorating. The kids watched Polar Express while we strung the lights, and we all had fun putting ornaments on the tree. Thankfully, to date, we've only broken two:) I'm sure the count will increase as little hands find their way to shiny, sparkling ornaments!

Here they are enjoying all the trees on the tree lot...

And here's the decorated tree! We still need a star for the top as Walker and Kathryn have informed me. They were also insistant that we hang candy canes, although I have a feeling they will not last long around these two little ones!

One Little, Two Little Indians

Yesterday, Walker and Kathryn celebrated their Thanksgiving Feast at school. The three year olds were Indians. Here you can see Walker (aka Wild Buffalo) performing for the crowd.

Here they are in full performance mode! Once they both saw me, they just froze! Too funny!

Kathryn (aka Pretty Pony) wasn't too happy once she saw me. She started pouting on stage and pretty much had a complete meltdown after that!

Once we returned back to their classroom, we were back in good spirits and willing to let Mommy take a picture!

Here's a picture of my favorite turkey cookies (the ones that I make every year). This year we made them and passed them out to their classmates. Walker and Kathryn loved sharing these with their friends (and everyone really!). It's a good thing I made a few extra because Walker was going around passing them out to everyone, even the parents!

Showering Sweet Baby Addison

This past Saturday, I had the privilege of helping this sweet group of girls shower sweet baby Addison Paige. The shower was wonderful! For a bunch of hostesses who mostly communicated via email, everything from the food to the decorations to the adorable favors (pictured below) came together perfectly!

Here's Makenzi with the hostesses (minus one sweet hostess who had already left!).

I promised several of the guests that I would share my macaroni salad recipe. It's so yummy and so simple! And the best part is it's so versatile. You can throw any ingredient you want in it and it comes out perfect every time!

1 lb. pasta (mini bow tie, mini penne or plain macaroni)

1/2-1 whole jar Marzetti Cole Slaw Dressing

1 container tomatoes (halved) (I usually use grape, cherry or Santa Sweet tomatoes)

2 small cans chopped black olives (drained)

1 pkg. feta cheese (crumbled)

4-5 green onions (chopped)

salt & pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse pasta. Add tomatoes, olives, feta, and green onions to the pasta. Starting out with 1/2 bottle of dressing, pour over ingredients and mix well. Add more dressing if/as needed. Salt and pepper to taste. (You can also sprinkle some Parmesean cheese on top for a little added texture and taste).

Please check out Makenzi's blog for even more pictures of the shower and to see some of the sweet gifts Baby Addison received. She is one loved little girl, and we can't wait to meet her!!

P.S. A little shout out to Anna Kate. Thank you for letting us borrow the pink feather boa wreath! I appreciate it so much!

Got Leaves?

Do you have a lot of leaves around your house? If you are like us, we are up to our eyeballs in leaves. Here's a little project to put those leaves to use.

You'll need leaves, construction paper, cardboard, craft glue, googly eyes and a pair of little hands.

Trace your child's hand on the cardboard, and cut it out. Glue leaves to "fingers." Glue googly eyes to thumb. Cut out an orange beak and a red gobbler from construction paper and glue to the backside of the thumb.

I didn't include feet, although I think you could probably make some cute ones with orange pipe cleaner or maybe even some macaroni??? Let your imagination go to work!

Homecoming War Eagle Style

Today, we went to Auburn's homecoming. This was the first time the kiddos have been to Auburn since they were four months old!

The weather was absolutely fabulous, and the fall leaves were piled high everywhere. The little ones had the most fun playing in the leaves!

Here's our little cheerleader...

We were thrilled to find Aubie and get our picture taken with him. Kathryn and Walker loved him. After taking the pictures, they both had to go back for an Aubie hug!

Cousin Daniel warmed up to Aubie too. Look at that smile!

Of course there was more playing in the leaves after Tiger Walk.

And then for the real reason we went down for the game, Daddy's walk on the field. He's in the middle in the orange and blue stripes!

Nana, Kathryn and I went into the stadium to cheer Daddy and the other past/present Cliff Hare award winners along! Here's the little cheerleader in the stadium...

And here she is with her Daddy!

We had SO MUCH FUN! We can't wait to do it again next year!!!

Coming Off a Candy High!

We had so much fun this past weekend. Nana, Papa, Tula, Uncle Brad and Aunt Mak were all in town for the festivities. And, of course, Spiderman and Buzz Lightyear showed up! Here they are setting out to gather some candy!

Making themselves at home on a neighbor's porch!

To infinity and beyond!

Aunt Mak with Spiderman

Checking out all of her loot!

Costume change mid-evening

We are still coming off of our candy high! With help from Aunt Mak, we visited almost a dozen houses, and the kids loved every minute of it! Especially the candy! Walker even "Trick or Treated" from the bags of some of the kids that came to our house. He would hand out some candy and then attempt to grab candy from the kids' bags! He was successful at least once with a group of teenagers! He's like his momma, he'll do just about anything for a piece of candy!